Kewanee doesn’t show up on most Illinois itineraries. Sitting well outside the state’s main tourism corridors, the Henry County town has long been known for its railroad heritage, a traditional downtown, and an agricultural past. Yet, a new national survey suggests it consistently lacks visitors.
Hostinger polled 3,000 travelers to identify U.S. towns with the most untapped tourism potential. Kewanee landed at #35 on the resulting list, the only Illinois entry among 50 destinations flagged as genuinely underrated across the country.
The report says the town’s appeal is rooted in what’s already there.
Francis Park sits on the edge of town with wooded surroundings and a historic home at its center. The downtown retains the physical imprint of Kewanee’s manufacturing and farming era, visible in its buildings and local institutions. And then there’s the “Hog Capital” identity—a long-standing association with hog farming that gives the town a quirky, memorable hook few places can claim.
Why travelers just ranked the quirky Illinois of Kewanee as America’s 35th most overlooked destination
The survey points to a pattern that holds across most of the 50 towns on the list: the problem isn’t what these places offer; it’s whether travelers can find them before they’ve already driven past.
Nearly a third of respondents (32%) said a good local business website had convinced them to stop somewhere they would have otherwise skipped. The turn-offs are basic: no photos, outdated information, no website at all, or no clear signal that a business is still open.
When it comes to discovery, Google and other search engines still lead the way (35%), followed by word of mouth (28%) and social media (15%). AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini now account for 6% of discovery — already ahead of travel blogs and review forums.
For a town like Kewanee, the implication is straightforward. “Most of these towns don’t have a character problem; they have a visibility problem,” said Gabrielė Račaitytė-Krasauskė, Global PR Lead at Hostinger. “Travelers decide where to stop long before they arrive, and that decision happens on a phone screen.”
The full ranking and accompanying data are available via Hostinger’s research on America’s most underrated travel destinations.
